


Homecoming

by thegizka



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied Blacksun, Sun-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 10:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15947900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegizka/pseuds/thegizka
Summary: The fallout from the Battle for Haven was monstrous.  Sun threw himself into everything with unbridled energy, but the rare chance to breathe and relax had him thinking about the rest of his team and when they might see each other again.





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to see a Team SSSN reunion, so I wrote a possible scenario to satisfy this need. It takes place a week or two after the Season 5 finale, and probably isn't canon compliant. (We'll see once Season 6 rolls around.)
> 
> Note: I do not own any elements of RWBY.

The fallout from the Battle of Haven was monstrous.  Adam’s defeat and disappearance left both his allies and enemies scrambling to establish control of the fractured White Fang.  The city was reeling from the Academy headmaster’s betrayal and death. Hushed conversations about Raven and her Tribe filled the background.  Days that should have been spent resting and healing were spent pulled every which way. They now had a Relic to keep safe and transport across the country.  They now had friends new and old with stories to tell and relationships to repair. They had never been so tired or so comforted.

Sun threw himself into everything with unbridled energy.  He was brimming with ideas for the new White Fang and had earned enough of Ghira’s respect to have a hand in what they were building.  He and Ilia bounced around ideas on how to find Adam before he could cause any more trouble for the Faunus--and Blake. He helped arrange the return travel of the Menagerie volunteers, surprised when so many of them asked for his advice or promised their assistance in the future.  He had always made friends easily but never thought he’d become connected to so many people like this. It was bizarre, but he just shrugged it off and moved on to the next task.

Every once in a while he found a chance to take a breather.  Like now, for instance. The sun was out, and he had no immediate plans, so he was lounging on a courtyard bench with his eyes closed, letting the warmth soak into his limbs as he tried to relax.  It was strange being back at his school after everything that had happened. They had cleaned up what they could after the battle, and contractors were already being found for repairs. The Menagerie volunteers had been housed in the dorms during their stay.  He thought about claiming SSSN’s room for himself, but it was more convenient to stay with the Belladonnas so they could discuss plans late into the night in their rented apartment. It would have felt too weird to be in his old room without his team.

He cracked open his eyes to look up at the bright blue sky.  When he had a moment to himself to think, he really missed them.  Reuniting with Blake’s friends was wonderful, and they had spent long hours catching up and laughing until their abs hurt.  But he knew there were a lot of changes they had to grapple with, too. Each of them were different than when they last saw each other.  Ruby was more serious, Weiss was softer, Blake had grown so much stronger, and Yang was quieter, more brooding. They had to rework how they were meshing as a team, as friends.  He was sure to give them space to do so, because he had no part of it, however important Blake and he were to each other now. There were some matters he couldn’t help her with.

Sun wondered how much his teammates had changed, or he himself.  Would their reunion be as beautiful and strained as RWBY’s? He had sort of left them without saying much.  It wasn’t unusual for each of them to disappear for a bit. They did have friends outside their team, after all, and Sun’s restlessness often sent him exploring on his own.  But this had been the longest they’d been out of contact since becoming a team. They could have traveled all the way to Menagerie while he was returning to Haven, and he’d be none the wiser.  Had any of them gotten involved in overthrowing a terrorist organization and thwarting a world-endangering evil plot?

At the very least he’d have some wild stories to tell them when they found each other again.

He closed his eyes and draped an arm over them, trying not to think about the uncertainty of when that reunion would be.  Now that their school had been compromised, they had no definite reason to reconvene here. Maybe once the rebuilding was finished and classes resumed--which probably wouldn’t be for half a year at least--they’d all be back in Haven.  Though that sounded awfully optimistic. He knew Blake wasn’t going to stay in the city for long. Either she’d work with her parents to redefine the White Fang, or she’d join her team in their battle against Salem. The one thing he knew for sure is she’d be leaving, and he would follow her in case she needed him wherever she was going.  He would just have to hope his team would understand.

For the moment, though, he would try and enjoy this warmth and this chance to breathe.  The soft hum of the city and sigh of the wind was familiar and comforting. He could almost pretend he was skipping class to enjoy the weather (which he was NOT prone to doing...not often, anyway).  It was nice to be somewhere familiar, as much as he loved adventuring to new places and getting into unexpected mischief. This was as close to a homecoming as he was likely to get in the foreseeable future, so he would do his best to enjoy it while he could.

\--------

He must have dozed off, because the next thing he was aware of beyond warmth and comfort was something tickling his nose.  Sun flicked his tail at it as he dragged his arm off of his eyes.

“And Sleeping Beauty awakes!”

Blake was leaning over him, her ponytail of dark hair held like a duster between her fingers.  Yang, Weiss, and Ilia stood behind her. They had all tied back their hair and were wearing t-shirts and tank tops as though they were coming from or going to a workout.

“Aw, you think I’m beautiful?  I’m touched!” he grinned. Blake just rolled her eyes.  “Where’s Ruby?”

“She was helping Oscar train last we knew.”  Weiss shrugged. “I think she was hoping Qrow would work with her after that.”

“I was wondering where  _ you _ were.  We would have invited you to train with us, but we couldn’t find you.  I didn’t think you’d be wasting the afternoon napping,” Blake teased.

“I wouldn’t say I wasted it.  When the weather’s nice, it’s a crime not to enjoy it.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Ilia sighed, shaking her head good-naturedly.  It was a bit strange to see her with the Beacon girls. Before a few days ago, they had seemed to live in separate worlds.  Now they were allies, maybe even friends. So much was changing from a year ago.

“Whatever.”  He stood up and stretched again, rewarming his muscles and shaking off the last wisps of afternoon lethargy.  “So what are you guys up to now?”

“Food, my dude!”  Yang pumped her fist in enthusiasm.  “I’m starved! Know any good places around here?”

“What, are you tired of Ren’s cooking?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Ren’s cooking,” Weiss sighed.  “That man is magic in the kitchen.”

“Ooh, sounds like Nora might have some competition!”

“I simply appreciate quality when I find it,” she sniffed, shooting Yang the signature Schnee disdainful stare.

“We were thinking along the lines of a snack to hold us over until dinner,” Blake explained, waiting expectantly for Sun to offer a suggestion.  He was always simultaneously thrilled and nervous when she turned her full attention to him. He was struck by an unfathomable urge to never disappoint her that warmed him more than the sun.

“I think I might know a place.”

\--------

He took them to a health cafe that Sage and Scarlet had happened across early in their first year at Haven.  There were too many flavors of granola and vegetable-based drinks to make it a favorite of Sun’s, but the chocolate banana protein smoothie was good enough to bring him back when the rest of his team wanted to go.  Like their dorm room, it felt weird to be visiting somewhere they used to hang out without the rest of SSSN, but it was also nice to play host and share these corners of Haven with his other friends. It was only fair, since Blake had shown him both Beacon and Menagerie.

They had to push a few of the tiny tables together to fit their party of five, but business had been quiet since the battle so the baristas were happy to accomodate them and their selection of parfaits, granola bars, bubble tea, and smoothies.  Sun hooked his heels onto the lower rungs of his chair so he could comfortably rest his arms on his knees while he wrestled his smoothie through its straw.

“Should we get something to bring back for Ruby?” Weiss asked as she popped a straw into her bubble tea.

“If we did, we’d have to find something for all of the others, too, and I don’t love them enough to empty my pocket book.”

“Brutal,” Ilia murmured.  Yang shrugged.

“Trekking across the world after your sister isn’t cheap.”

“Nor is running away from home.”

“Or overthrowing a psychopath,” Ilia agreed.

“At least it was worth it, right?” Blake asked, a little hesitant.  Working with your parents who were some of the wealthiest people in Menagerie did have its perks.

“Of course,” Weiss agreed breezily, perhaps too quickly.  Yang’s smile was a little hesitant but it looked genuine. Obviously it was taking her a while to process everything that had happened in the past year, but she and her teammates were tiptoeing around each other less than they had the first few days back together.

“So did I miss anything today besides training?” Sun asked, happy to change the subject before they got too deep.  He had never been a fan of attempted group therapy.

“Nora challenged Yang to a pancake eating contest,” Weiss relayed.

“I was all for it, but Ren refuses to cook for it, and I don’t trust Ruby in the kitchen.”

“I’d offer my services, but my cooking skills only go as far as cereal and microwave meals,” Sun sighed.

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” Yang smirked.

“The more I learn about your immaturity, the more I’m amazed you’ve survived this long,” Ilia agreed.

“What can I say?  I have an annoying habit of sticking around.”  He winked, peeking at Blake out of the corner of his eye.  She simply rolled hers.

“Other than that,” Weiss continued, “the adults and Oscar--or Ozpin I guess?--were trying to come up with some sort of concrete plan on when we’re going to head for Atlas, but they hadn’t decided by the time we left.”

“It’ll have to be soon,” Yang sighed, lowering her voice.  “Every second the Relic stays in the area is an opportunity for everyone who knows we have it to try and take it.  It’s safer on the move.”

“But there’s still so much to clean up here,” Blake murmured, absentmindedly stirring her smoothie with her straw.  “Things are so messy now.”

“At least we don’t have to figure it out alone.  The city council is handling the school rebuilding, and some of our Menagerie allies have stepped up to help your parents with the White Fang,” Ilia said.

“Still, everything feels so much bigger,” Weiss mused.

“Hey, we’ve already come through two major battles, right?”  Sun put on his most optimistic smile. “We can handle it.”

“Y’know, sometimes you sound a lot like Ruby,” Yang observed.

He thought about this for a moment.  Most of his experiences with Ruby involved her squealing in excitement.  “Uh...thanks?”

Yang laughed, but before she could explain further, a few new voices intruded into their conversation.

“Well get a load of this, chaps.”

“Dude disappears on us only to show up at our old school taking down a terrorist organization, and he doesn’t even invite us to join him.”

“And now he’s hanging out with his new friends at our favorite cafe without a thought for us.  Disgraceful.”

Sun blinked for a moment, trying to process what he was seeing and hearing, before he launched himself over the table.  The girls shrieked, trying to save their food and beverages and prevent the tables from overturning onto them.

“I can’t believe it!”  He crashed into the newcomers, arms wide to pull them into a hug.  “What are you guys doing here?”

Scarlet and Neptune stumbled from the impact, and it was only Sage’s sturdiness and a table behind them that stopped them all from tumbling into a pile on the cafe floor.

“That’s what  _ we _ should be asking  _ you _ ,” Scarlet countered, pushing back until he was upright again.  “When you said you’d catch up with us later, we figured it’d be, like, a week or two, not a fuckin’ year, mate!”

“Um, oops?”  He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at them all.  True, he hadn’t been super clear with them in the confusion after the Beacon catastrophe, but he also hadn’t been sure what he was getting into when he ran after Blake.  He was relieved to see his teammates looking well and not too pissed with him. Neptune was even smiling.

“Nah, it’s alright, man.  You were obviously busy leading a Faunus resistance and becoming a national hero.”  His best friend punched his arm good-naturedly. “We understand.”

“I’m not a hero!”

“Well the papers are saying differently,” Sage teased.

“You’re number 54 on the most recent list of Haven’s Rising Stars,” Scarlet informed him.

“You’re pulling my tail.  There’s no way!”

“It’s true,” Neptune agreed.  “We each bought a copy of the magazine so you could sign it for us.”

“No way!” Sun repeated.  His mind was buzzing, trying to process everything.  His team was here? The three people he trusted most in the world had somehow found him?  And they were trading banter as though no time had passed? It was all happening so fast, he could feel his brain getting overwhelmed from the adrenaline and excitement.

“Of course, you also made the top twenty for Remnant’s Most Dangerous Teens,” Sage mused.  “We kept those magazines, too.”

Someone cleared her throat behind him.

“Oh, hey guys.  Long time no see.”  Neptune leaned around Sun to wave at the girls.

“No kidding.”  Yang joined Sun, followed closely by the rest.

“It’s good to see you,” Blake smiled.

“Yeah, you too,”  Scarlet agreed. “Glad to see you survived all the recent excitement.”

“That’s one word for it,” Weiss murmured.  She and Neptune were trying to study each other without the other noticing, and they were not particularly subtle or successful.

“Oh hey, this is Ilia, one of Blake’s friends,” Sun introduced, suddenly realizing this wasn’t a reunion for everyone.  “Ilia, these are my teammates Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune.” They exchanged hello’s.

“So what brought you guys here?” Yang asked, reiterating Sun’s question from earlier.

“Boredom.” Scarlet answered morosely.

“Yeah, Sun’s been out here running around saving the world while we were stuck at home.”  Neptune threw an arm around his friend. “We couldn’t let you hog all the fun.”

“Well, it hasn’t  _ all _ been fun.  There were quite a few near-death experiences.”

“Isn’t that normal though?  We are huntsman,” Sage grinned.

“And I was  _ literally _ going to go crazy if I didn’t get out of my parents’ house,” Scarlet groaned.

Sun laughed.  He was still a bit giddy from having them all there.  He wanted to ask them about how they got home after Beacon, how they stayed in touch without their scrolls working, how long their journey here had been, and a million other questions.  He wanted to talk with them until they ran out of words, and then talk about all of the frivolous things just to keep talking. He hadn’t realized how much he truly missed them, or how much better he would feel now that they were here.

Blake seemed to read his thoughts.  She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed it lightly, smiling when he met her eyes.  “We’re going to head back. Catch up with you later?”

“Yeah, sure.”  Her smile filled him with even more warmth until he felt like he might overflow with emotion.

“Later!”  Yang waved, picking up on Blake’s train of thought.  They exchanged goodbyes and watched the girls walk out.

“Y’all want anything to eat?” Sun asked into the stillness that followed.  “I’ll pay.”

He already knew what they’d order.  They’d been here together so often, and there were some things that didn’t change with time or distance.  Jostling with each other at the counter was as natural as breathing, and they were already launching into an argument about whether or not Neptune still had a chance with Weiss.  Sun hadn’t been the one finishing a journey today, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had finally returned home.


End file.
